New Zealand’s Luxon forges deal to lead new coalition government: Analysis

Three political leaders in New Zealand have reached an agreement to form a coalition government after a month of negotiations. The leader of the centre-right National Party, Christopher Luxon, announced the alliance on Thursday. The coalition includes Luxon’s party, the conservative ACT party, and the New Zealand First party. Luxon’s National Party won 38 percent of the vote in the recent elections, while ACT won 9 percent and New Zealand First won 6 percent. The leaders of these parties will solidify their alliance in a signing ceremony on Friday. Despite Luxon’s party’s strong election showing, it took several weeks of negotiations to establish a joint policy platform due to differing views on taxation, race relations, and economic management. The ministers for Luxon’s coalition government will be announced following the signing ceremony. Both the ACT leader, David Seymour, and the New Zealand First head, Winston Peters, are potential candidates for the position of deputy prime minister. New Zealand has been under a caretaker government since the Labour government’s six-year reign came to an end in October’s elections. Luxon’s National Party has promised to ban cellphones in schools, tackle crime, and cancel planned fuel tax hikes within its first 100 days in office.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/23/new-zealands-luxon-forges-deal-to-lead-new-coalition-government